A discovery of the Castle Keep

By Craig Craggs

Approaching the twelfth century Castle Keep of Newcastle upon Tyne in a sense was like approaching a mystery that had to be solved.

As I looked up at the tall grand old building I realised that it was once the most important building of this great city. Although no longer seen as grand and overpowering it serves the present day role of reminding us of the importance of the past.

Surrounding the Castle Keep today is the more modern buildings of the Tyne Bridge and the office blocks. They were buildings that were unimaginable to the people at the time of the Castle Keep and essentially part of their future generations.

I tried to imagine the surrounding areas of the Castle Keep during the twelfth century. In order to do this I took notes from an archaeologist who enlightened me on the wisdom and engineering skills of the romans. As we all know the Romans had a habit of conquering lands and building the first forts and roads. Indeed they built a wooden fort where the Castle Keep stands and built the aging wall in front of it. Remnants of the ancient wall were uncovered in modern times and were marked by cobbles by the Castle Keep and by a plaque on the minor’s institute building.

And so the mystery begins, if the romans were keen to endeavour and build to protect the land around the Tyne, then the question is how was the Castle Keep protected? As I entered the Castle Keep full of intrepidation and paid my fare, much like villagers would pay their taxes to the local constable and my search for the answers began, and there it was an expert’s constructed model of the Castle Keep and the surrounding land during the twelfth century. 

There I was standing in the Keep looking at a world within a world. Sure enough walls were built around the Keep, two in fact, I felt sure that these walls were inspired by the Romans as they offered a familiar defensive advantage to the inhabitants. Within the walls it can be seen that village life would’ve took place. Perhaps calming their fears and anxieties by going to the church as its location surely made it a safe haven. 

So it became apparent to me that the invading forces would have to cross the Tyne and were faced with a wall almost as tall as the Keep itself. Archers could position themselves along it and on the towers, the invader’s only means of access would be to climb the walls or to break through the heavily guarded gates which would present a gauntlet of dangers in themselves.

So I left the castle keep and tried to visualise the walls and the church around me to like that I had been enlightened.